After a long day of sweeps, E'sren stops into the Nighthearth and has a quick chat with Yules.

When

Five months and 21 days until the 12th Pass

Where

Nighthearth

NighthearthA comfortable nook, this natural extension of the living room is cozily attired with overstuffed chairs and a couple of well-worn loveseats. All have been covered in various shades of green, giving the very incongruous appeal of a miniature forest hidden away inside… a grove of man-made proportion. Fish stews and spicy white-wherry chili are often kept hot on the minor hearths east and west of the main, for those whose hours defy when meals are kept. Ornate, the largest hearth towers high, rich with carving and utilitarian in fashion: it holds court by providing the weyr with rich klah, the air thick with the scent of cinnamon wafting.

On a quiet evening night when all the firelizards are quietly roosting on their perches, all but the night-staff are bustling about, Yules is to be found sipping some klah while snacking on redfruit and cheese on a seat in the Nighthearth. It's relatively quiet here - the cool evening has sent most to seek their beds and other comforts a bit early, but Yules is up, occasionally feeding some cheese to a feline who has wandered in to crouch at her feet. Do felines even like cheese? This red furry one is getting it anyway, while Yules crowd-watches the few pockets of crowds left to be observed.

People should probably be asleep, sure, unless they just got in from sweeps. Like E'sren, who has just come in from outside and is running his hand through his hair to put some life back into it after a few hours under a helmet. He must have dropped his gear off at home before coming down because he's dressed in an unbuttoned leather jacket that could pass as a riding jacket, but the rest is definitely plainclothes. After stopping by at the klah pitcher he continues onward to the hearth and his usual seat, a cushy armchair near Yules's; he drops down into that with a sigh and smiles at her. "Hey."

The life of a wingrider; something that this now-brownrider is… looking forward to? Yules looks up at E’sren with a slightly perplexed look; "Hi," she replies briefly, eyes examining the hair, the jacket, the pants in curiosity. "You just got back in?" she asks, one hand lifting her own mug in salute, tapping the bottom rim of it just over her eyebrow. The feline below butts head into leg, but Yules ignores it, watching E’sren closely. A faint look and the Weyrling confirms, "You ride blue Ahruth, right?"

E'sren's legs are long, they need a stretch, and that puts him in a bit of a sprawl, hardly a soldier's stance but he doesn't seem apologetic about it. "Yeah, had a late run." His voice, notoriously smooth and smoky, is a little rough from exhaustion and yet he's still smiling that little smile. And she might ignore that feline but he drops a hand down and clucks with his tongue to get its attention. "I do," he confirms, "he's the reeeally bright one." Again he smiles, and takes his turn, "Yules?"

At ease, at least; Yules lets herself grin a little as she watches the casual sprawl E'sren adopts; after a day a-dragonback, it's only natural, right? A sip from her own mug and Yules nods, her own contralto strangely soft in the quiet environs, "That's me." The feline, fed-up with being fed cheese, stalks over to E'sren and shows him how much it appreciates the lurvs. Yules nibbles some more cheese and huhs, "The bright one, eh? Where do you hail from?" Since everyone was somewhere, once.

While he indulges that feline, E'sren supplies his own name when Yules confirms he's right about hers, in case she didn't already know it via the dragon's name alone. "Yeah he's like… neon. You can spot him a mile away. If he isn't going crazy in the sky." Ahruth: Ferrari. After a few more cheek scritches he retracts his hand and resumes his sprawl, finally taking a wincing sip from his mug, the contents of which are maybe a little too hot yet. "My family are traders. The Renais." One of the larger network of families, easy to have heard of them. "I grew up around the High Reaches area, then we came here. What about you?"

Yules watches E'sren through narrowed eyes, huhing softly over the rim of her mug, both elbows bracing atop the table. "Traders, huh? A pretty big change in temperature." And since you never seem to know with people at Southern, Yules asks the impolitely put, "You from Before, then?" AS for herself, Yules shakes her head, "From the Nerat area. Farmers family, but I wanted to cook more, so I moved around a bit…" there's a hand that waves away the details in between, "And then I ended up here." Long story short, right? "And then Desmeth came." Any fierce look fades into the usual fond look of a Weyrling speaking of her lifemate. And then, "You like Southern so far?" Just in case E'sren is faking it.

"Mmhm. But I met up with Ahruth there, then we took a transfer. It's a long story. But we're not from Before." He says that part quickly, with a tense voice and a quick look at the hearth itself and the little fire. "Nerat's nice," he comments a beat later, maybe hoping to write over that moment. "I've been there. I guess you're used to it a little more here than I was when I first came." Which kind of leads into her question, which earns her a slightly puzzled look. "Mmhm," he decides on again. Then, with a grin, he recalls a memory, and he shares it with the weyrling in a kind of conspiratorial way. "My first night here, it was a gold flight, right? It was insane. Totally crazy."

Yules's huh seems to gloss over any discomfort on E'sren's part, then nods absently as he compliments her home area, "It's okay. Got tired of Farming after a while." The end of that is clipped, as if there was more on the heels of it, but Yules doesn't look amenable to looking into that. Both eyebrows arch for a moment as Yules goes back to remember, shifting in her seat uncomfortably, "It's possible," she allows, but puts nose into mug to drink deeply. Turning awkward to positive, she continues, "Could even be the one I Impressed Desmeth from." A beat or two after that, Yules continues, "How was your night when Talicanitath went up?" Despite the rosy blush on her cheeks, the weyrling's utterly honest with her question, even though somewhere outside, a dragon is sighing quietly. Well, for Desmeth.

E'sren doesn't seem to mind if there's anything awkward about any of this, proving himself to be impervious. In fact he laughs, quietly of course, and nods slowly to confirm. "It was that one I think, actually. That you Impressed from. Or wait, was it…" He squints off into the distance, trying to assemble the timeline in his mind, his brow furrowed, but when mention of Talicanitath's flight is made he pauses and thinks on that instead. "Wait which one was that one? I think it was before I got here. Was it good?" He can only assume based on the blushing.

Yules shrugs casually, or so it seems to the naked eye, "Talicanitath, of our Weyrwoman, just went up a seven-day or so ago. Dhiammarath was before that." This is getting a bit weird, even for Yules, so she turns to safer topics: "Have you found any bodies?" Because they're dead, right? Safe as weyr ledges. "I haven't found any in a while, since before I was Impressed, and now I hope we've managed to find everywhere someone would hide a body…" Yules is like a bad luck charm, "but have you heard anything about the ships?" A contralto at this time of night should be soft and harmonious but Yules puts it to use to question E'sren, no-nonsense and truth-searching, "Desmeth is really hoping to find something soon."

Ah, says E'sren's finger, pointing at the weyrling once she clarifies. "That's why. I was back home visiting. But I heard about it." Still, if Yules is uncomfortable, he isn't. Even when their talk turns towards topics that might be safer to her but are downright odd for him. And even if he isn't uncomfortable, confused isn't too out of his way. After a long pause he simply says, "Nope." And takes a drink. "We've had some assignments, I've been out scouting a few times but… nothing yet. I feel like everyone's trying to solve their own mystery, stuff's starting to overlap." His head rolls against the back of his chair to one side, his eyes going fuzzy, then his mouth quirks and he braces his hand on the chair's arm. "Ahruth's ready. I think we're gonna go get some sleep, drills in the morning."

The look of anticipation on Yules' face as E'sren mentions home is a bright flash of openness over usually stern features, "Home. Huh." Still, Yules' shop of mystery shuts down as E'sren doesn't have anything to add to information, though she nods, "I… would just like to get out there," she confesses. When the blue-rider mentions he's leaving, Yules nods and starts to rise herself, "I should go too. We've got…" a shrug, "yeah, pretty much that too." The exciting life of riding young dragons in an Interval. "Can I…" no, there's no way to make this sound common-place, "Walk you to your dragon? Or at least outside?" The offer is there, even though the feline has stalked off, tail pluming in the air. Harrumph. Humans.

During the process of de-sprawling and folding those long legs back up again, E'sren pauses to give the other rider a long look. "I know what you mean," is his reply, with that small smile of his, and he does understand. Once they're both standing and he's had a stretch, he lifts his eyebrows and nods, the initial agreement to her offer that's accompanied soon by, "Yeah, sure. He's out there. Lighting up the bowl." That last part must be a joke about all that bright he mentioned before; he tilts his head to silently direct them both away from the hearth and out. Apparently he's taking his mug with him to his weyr because that's coming too, and he takes another drink as they exit the cavern. Sure enough, Ahruth is waiting patiently not far off, E'sren waves at him then turns to smile again at Yules. The smile does sober slightly though and after another pause, "Hey I know I'm not a wingleader or anything, and I haven't been doing this all that long. But if you need advice or anything… I think I was like you, when I was a weyrling. I get it."